How to Make the Most of Your College’s Career Services

Getting Hired Team

You should never feel like you’re on your own during a job search. There are many different forms of assistance available if you know where to look. If you are a college student or alumni, one of the first places you should go for assistance is to your school’s career services center. Colleges offer career services for current students and alumni, and in many cases, you can find help through college websites even if you are not a current student or graduate.

If you are looking for a job, or plan to look for a job upon graduation, take advantage of the many services available to you through your college. From help writing your resume, to interview tips, to putting you in contact with an alumni network, the career services center is a free and highly valuable resource. Most colleges, from community colleges to four-year universities, provide basic career services to help their students prepare for employment upon graduation and beyond.

The services available vary by school, but you should be able to count on some pretty standard forms of assistance from your college’s career services center including one-on-one meetings with a counselor, resume review, and interview preparation and practice. Many colleges provide self assessment tests that help students determine which careers will match their interests. There are also personality tests available that provide insight into the types of careers that would be a good match with a certain personality. These tests can be completed online and will help give you some direction in your job search. These resources, in addition to the personalized assistance you can receive from a counselor, can be a great starting point when planning your career path.

Meeting one-on-one with a counselor provides an opportunity to go over your career options and help you develop a plan to reach your goal. However, even if you never step foot into your college’s career center, there are many resources available online that can help you in your job search. Check out the career center’s web page for resources available online. Many colleges provide these online resources without requiring a login, meaning anyone has access to them, even if you’re not a student or alumni.

Many colleges also offer job fairs networking nights, and arrange for speakers to come on campus and provide career advice for students. College alumni networks can help you find job openings or connect with a mentor. To see what’s available to you, stop by your school’s career services center and start asking questions. Colleges provide these services to help their students succeed, and they love to see these resources being used.

If you’re currently looking for a job or are preparing to do so in the near future, consider stopping by your college’s career services center. You can make as much or as little use of the resources available to you there, but the first step is finding out what your options are. College resource centers are designed to help students and alumni be successful, so don’t hesitate to take advantage of these valuable services.